Magic and nature

(Nimue)

In fantastical representations of magic, what we get is magic as a means to defy the laws of nature. In a lot of the magic we see people doing in reality, that doesn’t happen. It’s more about skewing the odds in your favour, so that things that very much could happen go the way you want them to.

Recently, David Bridger raised the idea of magic as connection with nature, and I wanted to move that idea out of the comments to talk about it more. It came up around the recent post about divination.

The more in tune you are with what’s going on, the more able you are to make that work for you. The more aligned your intentions are with what might happens, the better placed you are to get the results you want. For most of our ancestors, this being in tune with everything else will have been a key survival skill. We could just as well call it science as magic, because the careful observation of available data is very much part of it.

Being more connected to the natural world is an act of magic that changes us. Seeking it is tantamount to casting a spell on yourself, to alter your perceptions, values and aspirations. To be aligned with the natural world is to be out of kilter with capitalism for a start. The more we push this way, the less inclined we will be to use and consume, to waste or damage. Coming into your mammal self will make you more inclined to rest and less inclined to strive in pointless ways.

Feeling connected is itself magical. This is the experience of becoming re-enchanted with the world. It’s about falling in love with life and with the wonder of existence. We throw off our dissatisfaction, our jaded disinterest, our apathy. Connecting brings joy, and grief, hope and despair, and an aliveness in our hearts that isn’t available when we try to cut ourselves off from the world.

Magic can be many things, and the more we open ourselves to it as a possibility, the more scope we have to make changes and bring new energies into existence.